A bit of an uneventful first round. This is to be expected with new players to the genre, and in a polite environment like the AGS forums where people don't really want to put pressure on and/or deceive others.
I might have also slipped up a tad with choosing a very pure Mafia/Werewolf version of the game that is suited better to more experienced players.
Usually in Assassin In The Palace guards and the king make some moves to call out the assassin like asking everyone who they think should be lynched. The assassin will never want to be first to reply as they might choose the king by accident. But they are often quick to jump on the bandwagon once voting begins. There was some of this kind of diversion tactics used this round I noticed. Dayowlron called out Selmiak as a lynch candidate. Very clever move which could have backfired on him and gotten him lynched. This might have even saved the King from the poison bolt. I guess what sealed Josiah1221's fate was that he made it a bit too obvious that he didn't know who the King was. Only the Assassin doesn't know who the King is. So yeah...
I thought the stripped-down version of the game would be better but it turned out that it was just a bit too pure and new players didn't know how to proceed.
I think I will just open an actual Mafia/Werewolf game with scum-hunting roles, night phases, and everything else that goes along with it.
Probably a lot more fun than this outing...